Resident Evil: The Beginning
by DecorusBellator
Summary: Damn! Sorry about the repost, people, I just posted under the wrong name by mistake... anyway, same story if you want to read it again...
1. Arrival

Resident Evil: The Beginning  
  
  
  
  
9th June, 1998.  
  
Rachelle Dawson walked into the Raccoon City police station. She had just transferred to the sleepy Mid-West American town from her police job in the city to take a vacant place in the resident elite taskforce called the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or S.T.A.R.S., which she had been recommended by her cousin Jill Valentine, who worked in Rachelle's field, weapons, on the team. Rachelle was both nervous and excited.  
  
She walked up to the office, but she found it empty. Jill knew she was coming and left a note telling Rachelle that the S.T.A.R.S. team was out on a training exercise, and where to put her things, and where her desk was, etc.  
As she walked up to her designated desk and started unpacking her things, she could hear a strange sound, much like a tapping of keyboard keys. She turned around and saw a man in a corner, bent over a laptop.  
She walked over to him.  
'Excuse me, do you know when the S.T.A.R.S. team will be back?'  
The man failed to answer.  
'Excuse me, I happen to be talking to you.'  
The man lifted his head and took out his earphones through which loud heavy metal music pumped.  
'What?' The man continued working on his computer as Rachelle talked to him.  
'Do you know when the S.T.A.R.S. team will be back?'  
'No. Why do you want to know?'  
'It's just I'm the new rookie, and I want to meet the new people I'll be working with.'  
'Are you Jill's cousin?'  
'Yeah, I'm Rachelle.'  
'Well, I'm Brad. I work as a pilot and communications person for the Alpha Team. Which team are you assigned to?'  
'I think Jill told me Alpha.'  
'What do you do?'  
'I work in weapons and computers.'  
'Really? Good. Can you help me with this?'  
Brad spun around his laptop. He was playing a computer game, Tomb Raider. Rachelle was extremely familiar with the game and knew the walkthroughs for the first section, but she had never played it on computer before.  
'What are the controls?'  
Brad pushed the manual before her and she found the page with the controls. She exited the main game and started the training level.   
In the section with the gym platforms, Rachelle successfully completed the hardest jump. Instead of simply pulling up, she manipulated Lara so she would pull up in a handstand, then finish in a walkover. Brad stared open mouthed.  
'How did you do that?'  
'A damn good guide.'  
She ran to the pool behind the gym and, instead of simply jumping in, she gracefully swan-dived into the pool.  
She started the first level, picking up all items with all secrets in a new record time, 9:30. She was pretty pleased with herself, and so was Brad.  
'You're amazing, how do you know that?'  
'It's just a lot of practice, Brad. It's pretty easy when you've been playing it for a year and a half.'  
Just then, the door to the office opened and the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. team came trundling in.  
  
Rachelle's cousin, Jill Valentine came in, followed by her teammates Chris Redfield, Barry Burton, Joseph Frost and Albert Wesker from Alpha Team, plus Kenneth J. Sullivan, Richard Aitken, Forest Speyer, Enrico Marini, Edward Dewey, Danielle Lanza and Rebecca Chambers, herself a S.T.A.R.S. rookie.  
Jill ran over to Rachelle and gave her a big hug.  
'Hey, Shellie! How are you? Did you go okay?'  
'Yeah, I found everything alright, and Brad has been very good at keeping me company,' she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Alpha Team pilot Brad Vickers had not spoken a word to her in the last five minutes as she had been teaching him how to play Tomb Raider.  
'Where have you been?' asked Rachelle.  
'We've just been doing some training. C'mon, let me introduce you to the guys.'  
Jill grabbed Rachelle by the hand and took her around the room, until she came to Chris.  
Chris was an extremely attractive young man. He was tall, with short, dark brown and spiky hair. Although he was a qualified pilot, he was Alpha Team's resident marksman.  
He shook Rachelle's hand. 'Hi, Rachelle. I hope you like it here with us. Jill has told us a lot about you. I think that we'll need someone like you.'  
Rachelle smiled. 'Thanks, I think this'll be fun.'  
Jill dragged Rachelle off to meet the other teammates. She came to Barry.  
Barry was very tall and very solidly built. He looked very fierce and would be the perfect nightclub bouncer, Rachelle thought.  
When Barry shook Rachelle's hand, his grip was so strong that Rachelle thought he had nearly broken her hand.  
Although he looked very fierce, Barry was a gentle man, and Rachelle was fitting in well.  
  
Jill took Rachelle to where the rest of the group was. Richard, Joseph, Kenneth, Forest, Edward, Enrico, Danielle and Rebecca were standing by the drink dispenser. Jill pushed her way through the throng.  
'Hey guys! This is the new member, Rachelle. And please, no initiation ceremonies, this is my cousin, so go easy on her.' Jill pointed her finger to the man beside Rachelle who had a can poised over Rachelle's head.  
'Richard, put that beer down. Okay, Shellie, starting to your left, this is Richard, Joseph, Edward, Forest, Kenneth, Enrico, Rebecca and Danielle.'  
The group shouted a unanimous 'Hey!' and Richard gave Rachelle a small glass of Coke.  
All of the group, except Joseph, were Bravo Team. Richard was communications person, Edward was the pilot, Kenneth was vehicle technician, Enrico was team leader, Rebecca was trainee medical officer, Forest was the weapons expert, and Danielle had been recently transferred from the Special Forces Unit as marksperson. Rachelle noticed Danielle on the end.  
'Well, Dani, I'm finally here.'  
'I noticed that, Shellie. And will you please keep your cat inside at night? He keeps peeing on my plants.'  
'Do you guys know each other?' asked Forest.  
'We live across the road from each other,' said Danielle.  
'Hey, you didn't tell me. What happened to the SFU?' Rachelle asked.  
'Chief Irons fired them all,' Danielle said with a smirk. 'Just sat there drinking coffee and eating donuts so they got fired and I got put here. Cool, huh?'  
'Hey, how come you got home so late? Your car woke me up. I think you need to get a new one.'  
'We've been busy training. I've heard through the grapevine that we've got a mission coming up in about three weeks time.'  
'Cool. Do you think I'll be able to come?'  
'Yeah. I heard it's high priority. All hands on deck.'  
'Sounds pretty cool.'  
'So, remind me - what are you here for again?'  
Rachelle stuck her tongue out at Danielle and said, 'In case you don't remember, weapons, hand-to-hand combat, electronics and communications expertise.'  
'Are you sure? To me, your talents seem to be singing dirty songs very loudly and badly, hogging the hot water in the shower, flirting outrageously and being a smartass in general.'  
'No, Danielle, they're your talents. Besides, my songs are cool. And who said I hog the hot water?'  
'A little birdie told me. Where's your uniform?'  
'Do we have a uniform? Anyway, do you wear a uniform?'  
'No, but I guess Wesker hasn't sent yours yet.'  
Joseph cut in. 'You mean Wanker?'  
Rachelle laughed. 'Oh God, is he that bad?'  
'Yep,' Kenneth said. 'I'm sure glad I'm in Bravo Team. Enrico is way cooler than Wanker.'  
Enrico pretended to revel in the compliment. 'Oh, thanks,' he answered.  
  
Although Rachelle only got a glimpse of Albert Wesker, she could tell from the way he moved and his appearance that he thought highly of himself. He was obviously proud of his achievements and looks, but everyone agreed that he looked like a goose.  
He was aging, but don't tell him that. He was in his late forties, and he had bleached blonde hair that was spiked up. He also wore huge aviator-style sunglasses all the time, even indoors and at night time.  
'Would you like some hair to go with that gel?' Rachelle wanted to say to him.  
She found out that he was quite aloof, and quite condescending to people he thought to be below his self-proclaimed superior intellectual and physical capabilities. No one liked him, and he was sleazy to girls he met in places like bars and nightclubs. Rachelle also thought he was quite shifty and something suspicious was going on.  
  
11th June.  
Bravo Team was great and worked well with their Alpha Team counterparts. Rebecca was a rookie like Rachelle and they immediately bonded and became fast friends. Kenneth, Joseph, Forest and Richard worked as a team and were the practical jokers of S.T.A.R.S. and often picked on Brad, which Danielle thought was a little unfair. They immediately adopted Rachelle because of her wicked sense of humour and the dirty little songs she sang, pure comedic genius that they had never heard before, and that Rachelle brought back from her trip to Australia. She and Richard were the perfect partners in crime, doing outrageous pranks like covering Chris' car in shaving cream. Edward was quiet and kept to himself and Enrico was seldom seen because of the massive responsibilities he held within the police force like Wesker. But maybe it was a good thing that Wesker was rarely seen within the S.T.A.R.S. team, from what Rachelle had heard.  
Alpha Team was like one big family and they were all connected with one another in some way. Jill, Barry and Chris stuck together like glue. But, however, one person was left out - Brad.   
Brad usually kept to himself, away from the joking barbs of Joseph, Richard, Forest and Kenneth. Rachelle felt a little sorry for him but she had also noticed that Danielle had taken a liking to Brad, and she thought something else might be going on, but she didn't dare tell Danielle that, if she wanted to live.  
  
In the office, Joseph, Richard, Kenneth and Forest were having a debate about something, Rachelle couldn't quite figure out what it was about. Obviously, the topic was a personal point for Brad and he joined in the argument.  
As he and Joseph fought, the topic became clear. The debate had moved on from genetic science and onto something else - Brad had a bone to pick with Joseph.  
'I've never liked you!' Brad spat.  
'Me? You're schizophrenic!' Joseph retorted.  
'I'm schizophrenic! What about you? What is it with you? Why do you always have to have the last word?'  
'I don't have to have the last word.'  
Brad responded with silence, slightly grinning at the fact that he was proving to Joseph that he was right. Joseph realised the corner Brad had backed him into and tried to get out of the awkward silence.  
Realising he had got him, Joseph yelled back, 'No, you always have to have the last word.'  
Brad went to open his mouth to defend himself but then he realised if he spoke Joseph would be right.  
'No, you do.'  
'No, you do!'  
Brad thought for a second, trying to find a way to end the argument.   
'You do, and that's the last word on it!'  
Joseph shook his head. 'This is stupid,' he muttered.  
'Ha! See?' Brad said excitedly.  
Joseph had never liked Brad and the feeling was mutual. The aggression between them had simmered for years but the fight brought it to the boil. Joseph was getting frustrated at Brad's stupidity and the fact that Brad had outsmarted him.  
'You know what your trouble is? You're an idiot!' Joseph held his arm up to Brad's face, hoping to punch him when Brad answered his question. By now, the entire team was gathered around, including Rachelle, who was trying not to laugh at Brad in front of Danielle, who obviously had a crush on Brad.  
'How many fists am I holding up?' Joseph asked. Unfortunately, Brad knew the trick.  
'One!' Before Joseph could punch him, Brad kicked Joseph hard in the shin.  
Joseph hopped up and down on one leg, rubbing his injured one.  
'Ow! You bastard!' he exclaimed, before trying to beat Brad up. Barry had to break the fight up.  
'Okay, boys, break it up,' Barry said, holding both by the scruff of the neck. 'What would Wesker do if he saw you guys fighting, hey? You would both be out on your sorry asses faster than you could blink! Just calm down, and try to act professional. Who knows, maybe one of you has to save the others life one day. Just grow up!'  
With that, he let both of them go and they both sulked back to their desks after simultaneous whines of 'He started it!'  
  
One day, as they were all hanging out at the cafeteria, Rachelle sat down across from Danielle.  
'Hey, Dani, can I ask you something?'  
'Yeah.'  
'I'm just wondering, why do you hang out with Brad so much? It's nothing personal to him, it's just that he seems a little anti-social.'  
'It's just he's lonely, that's all. I feel sorry for him, that's all, nothing else.'  
Rachelle noticed something wrong with Danielle's voice and her facial expressions. She had gone from being the serious, sarcastic, person she usually was to being distracted. Her voice was dreamy, as if she had her head in the clouds. Rachelle remembered the last time she was like that.  
It was when she had her heart set on Rachelle's then-boyfriend in high school, Steven Phillips. Danielle eventually got him, and she had a huge fight with Rachelle, until Danielle found out he had been cheating on her with two other girls at the same time. Could it be that Danielle was in love? Rachelle couldn't ask her; she'd have her head.  
'Okay, then.'  
Danielle was dreaming. 'What?'  
Rachelle shook her head. 'Nothing,' she said, smiling.  
'Why are you smiling like that?'  
'Smiling like what?'  
'Smiling like you've just spotted a lifetime supply of chocolate.'  
'Oh, nothing,' Rachelle smirked. 'I know a lot more about you than you think, Danielle Aladene Lanza.'  
'What? Do you think I like Brad or something?'  
Rachelle tried to hide her confirming grin.  
'Look, he's a nice guy, but he's not my type.'  
'Crap.'  
Danielle opened her mouth to argue when Brad came over and sat down next to her.  
'Hi, how are you guys?'  
'We're good,' Rachelle said. She tried to hide her smile. She looked at her watch. 'Oh, sorry, my lunch break's up. I'll see you guys later.'  
She walked away and watched them engrossed in conversation from afar. Kenneth scared Rachelle by walking up behind her.  
'Sorry, Shellie, did I scare you?'  
'Well, yes you did, Kenneth. Jeez!' Rachelle's eyes flickered excitedly.  
'Can you keep a secret?'  



	2. Departure

By that afternoon, Rachelle's secret had, naturally, been spread around the entire office, except for Brad and Danielle, since her temper was legendary and Rachelle was sure she'd kill her. Rachelle wasn't sure as to how Brad would react. I mean, what if Danielle didn't like him? He would be absolutely humiliated. Even Richard, Forest, Joseph and Kenneth couldn't do that to him, since they all knew how it felt at some time or other, usually at prom night.  
  
16thJune.   
While Rachelle was unpacking, she had a parcel unceremoniously dumped on her desk. It was very big, soft and wrapped in brown paper, and it came with a matching white Styrofoam package.  
'What's this?' Rachelle pointed at her package.   
'What?' Barry said, half-listening.  
Kenneth leaned back from his desk. 'Oh cool, that's your new uniform. Go on, Shellie, go out and try it.'  
Rachelle walked to the toilet laughing. Kenneth always cracked her up.  
Rachelle unwrapped her parcel. On top was a pale blue short-sleeved top, with the S.T.A.R.S. badge on the left sleeve. There was also a black utility vest with a shiny new police badge on it, plus a pair of blue camouflage cargo-pocket pants with a pair of black leather lace-up combat boots. There was also a black leather holster belt with black leather fingerless gloves, plus a black woollen beret. Rachelle was pleased, since black and blue were her two favourite colours.  
She came back into the office fully dressed and received a chorus of applause and wolf-whistles. She opened the Styrofoam package.  
In it was her S.T.A.R.S. ID card, plus her new gun and clips of ammunition. Her ID card read, 'Dawson, Rachelle Shannon.'  
Joseph looked at her gun. 'What is it?' he asked.  
'I think it's a magnum. Is that right, Jill?'  
Jill glanced in Rachelle's direction. 'Yeah, that's right. Desert Eagle. Does that have laser sight?'  
Rachelle looked at the gun. It also had an infra-red LaserScope on it. She nodded to Jill.  
Edward started whining. 'Not fair. The rookies always get the best thing. Better uniforms, better guns. All I have is a beretta.'  
'Well, Edward, be grateful you have a gun. I mean, do pilots need one?'  
'Well,' Kenneth interrupted, 'we actually swap when we do missions, so one of us has to go out into the field. But, as I recall, it's your turn to do the flying next mission.'  
  
  
17th June.  
This day was Wesker's 50th birthday, and also the day that Rachelle, Kenneth, Forest, Richard and Joseph decided to play a trick on Barry by placing a stink bomb in his suitcase. Unfortunately, Barry's suitcase was very similar to the new suitcase that Wesker had brought into work that day.  
While Barry had left the room, Kenneth and Joseph quickly sneaked up and placed the bomb in the case and left the room with Forest, Rachelle and Richard in tow. Within a few minutes, they expected to hear Barry cursing down the hall. But, it didn't all go to plan.  
Rachelle poked her head in the door and saw Wesker standing near the case.  
'Why did I leave that there?' she heard him mutter to himself. He picked up the case and walked to his office in the opposite direction to where the rest of the group were hanging out.  
Rachelle stealthily crept to the window underneath Wesker's office. The rest of them followed her.  
'Shellie! What's going on?' Joseph asked.  
'Shut up, Joe!' Rachelle inconspicuously peeked underneath the blind on Wesker's window. She could see him through the crack.  
Her eyes widened with horror as Wesker went to open the case.  
'Oh kuso.'  
'What?' Richard asked.  
'Oh merde.'  
'What?'  
'Oh mierda.'  
'What?'  
'Oh scheisse.'  
'What?'  
She sat down with her back against the wall. 'Don't you speak Japanese, French, Spanish, or German?' she said in a harsh whisper. She sighed. 'Look at Wesker.'  
Forest peeked through the crack.  
'Oh shit!'  
'Exactly! Get out of here!' Rachelle said quietly as Wesker's curses echoed through the hallway. His head poked through the doorway amongst the smoke as five pairs of rapid footsteps in heavy combat boots thundered down the hall, echoing off the walls.  
'Dawson! Speyer! Sullivan! Frost! Aitken!'  
The group stopped in their tracks and turned around slowly.  
'In my office, now!'  
'Oh crap,' Kenneth said as they slowly shuffled into the office.  
  
Word of what happened spread like wildfire, and practically the whole force was standing outside Wesker's office, their ears on the door. They flinched whenever Wesker raised his voice and cracked a long wooden ruler on his desk. This continued on until they were surprised to see the door fly open and Wesker standing there. Some who were leaning right on the door fell forward at Wesker's feet.  
'Do you mind?' he thundered and slammed the door in their faces.  
Edward motioned for everyone to leave.  
'Come on, people, move along, nothing to see here,' he said in an Officer Barbrady-like voice.  
They returned to the S.T.A.R.S. office and sat down, waiting for Kenneth, Joseph, Rachelle, Forest and Richard to return.  
  
After about half an hour, Rachelle walked into the S.T.A.R.S. office in a daze.  
Everyone excitedly clambered over to her desk, talking loudly, asking her what Wesker said. Rachelle put up her gloved hand to stop them talking.  
'Please, guys, I have a headache. Wesker has just been shouting very loudly at me for fifty minutes and I don't feel well.' She looked viciously in Wesker's direction. 'I hope his throat hurts like hell.'  
She stood to leave. 'I'm going to sleep it off in the storeroom.'  
She started to walk away but then she turned around. 'By the way, we'll forfeit $1000 from our pay. Each.'  
Everyone flinched in unison as Rachelle opened the door and lay down on the bed on the storeroom.  
  
29th June.  
The next two weeks passed uneventfully, even though Rachelle, Joseph, Forest, Kenneth and Richard were each $1000 short.  
Danielle's sources were right. They were to have a mission in weeks' time. A huge mansion on the edge of town was to be investigated because bizarre murder cases had recently been documented there and in the surrounding forest.  
Hikers and campers in the area had been attacked by a group of about ten people and the victims were apparently eaten. A body of a woman hiker, who had been eaten beyond recognition, was found in the Arklay River just last week.   
Some of the team were a little uneasy since this mission was high priority and sources said it was very dangerous, but then again, this is what the S.T.A.R.S. unit is for.  
Rebecca and Rachelle were especially uneasy, since this was to be their first mission. Rachelle was sort of prepared, since she had experienced dangerous missions, but it had been a long time she left the Army. Rebecca had no formal survival training. She didn't have a weapon. She had been employed for emergency field medicine, and the only thing she had to defend herself was a can of mace.  
  
Later, the S.T.A.R.S. team was sitting in the office, taking a break. It was only a few days until Bravo Team was sent ahead to start the mission, and some had noticed something was not quite right with Wesker. He was starting to become a little bit more evil, if that was possible. He was treating the S.T.A.R.S. members more badly each day closer to the mission and everyone just left him alone as not to provoke an outburst.  
Danielle was confused. 'What is with that guy?'   
Brad turned around from his computer. 'Maybe he's gotten sick of the fights he's having with you, Dani. Maybe you shouldn't piss him off so much.'  
Even though Danielle had been moved to the S.T.A.R.S. team, she hadn't been demoted from her rank of Captain since the SFU was disbanded, which meant that she was equal to Wesker, since he was officially Captain of the S.T.A.R.S. team as well as captain of the Alpha Team.   
Jill nodded. 'Yeah, but I noticed that with Chief Irons as well. I mean, he's usually an okay guy, always polite, but now they're becoming more hostile. It's as if they want to get rid of us.'  
'Well, we'd better do some goddamn good work with this next mission, if we want to keep our jobs,' Kenneth remarked.  
Barry shook his head. He couldn't make sense of the situation. 'This is very unusual, even for Wesker. Even he isn't as crabby as this. Something very suspicious is going on.'  
Everyone nodded. They agreed with Barry. Something was definitely going on.   
Brad looked around. 'Where's Rachelle? Why is it so quiet?'  
Danielle laughed. 'Joseph told me something about him, Rachelle, Forest and Richard going out to get some laxative chocolate.'  
Brad smiled. 'Ah. Well, I'll have to careful if Rachelle offers me any of her suspicious Red Tulip.' He turned back to his laptop and continued his game of solitaire.  
Kenneth slammed down his paperwork. 'Why didn't they tell me, the bastards! I've gotta get out of here!'  
Kenneth grabbed his coat and as he ran out of the door, he called over his shoulder, 'I will personally see to it that we will give Wesker a whole new and interesting chocolate bar!'  
Everyone cheered as Kenneth slammed the door behind him.   
  
4th July.  
Finally, the big day had come. At dusk, Bravo Team were to be sent into the mansion by helicopter. Enrico looked over his teams' last minute preparations and declared that they were ready. Richard had assumed his role as comms. person, it was Edward's turn to fly, with Kenneth in the field. Forest looked over his weapons and ammunitions, Rebecca packed her first aid kit and Danielle did some last-minute target practice.  
On the helipad, Alpha Team bid them farewell.  
The S.T.A.R.S. pranksters stood together on the helipad in a group hug. After that, Rachelle went and kissed the Bravo Team pranksters goodbye.  
Beside them, Danielle stood with her now-boyfriend Brad, her arms around his neck. As time came closer for her to leave, they kissed passionately. Everyone saw them and cheered.  
Edward started up the helicopter and as they went to leave, Richard leaned out the door.  
'Joseph!' he called.  
Joseph and Rachelle looked at Richard.  
'If anything happens, guard her with your life.'  
Joseph nodded. 'I promise.'  
  
They all rushed inside to set up the radios with Richard, since it was essential to keep in contact because the mission was classed as highly dangerous.  
Brad set it up, and everything was working well until about forty-five minutes into the hour-long journey.  
'Brad!'  
'What, Rich, what is it?'  
'Something's wrong with the engine, we have to make an emergency landing.'  
'What? How far away are you?'  
'Not far. About a kilometre.'  
Suddenly, Brad heard a high scream. It was Danielle.  
'Dani!' he screamed.  
Suddenly, the radio went static. He turned to the group.  
'Guys, we've lost contact.'   
  
THE END  
  
  



End file.
